As Time Goes By
by merderfan93
Summary: After being seperated in the water. Both Rose and Jack thought the other dead. 6 years later however, they meet again in the most unlikely of places.
1. Chapter 1

I realise it's a really bad idea to start a new story given my ability to update on a regular basis. However, the idea popped into my head after I read a similar story and I can't get rid of it, so here it is. Let me know what you think.

_You must remember this  
A kiss is still a kiss  
A sigh is just a sigh  
The fundamental things apply  
As time goes by_

And when two lovers woo  
They still say, I love you  
On this you can rely  
No matter what the future brings  
As time goes by

Moonlight and love songs  
Never out of date  
Hearts full of passion  
Jealousy and hate  
Woman needs man  
And man must have his mate  
On this you can deny

It's still the same old story  
A fight for love and glory  
A case of do or die  
The world will always welcome lovers  
As time goes by

Moonlight and love songs  
Never out of date  
Hearts full of passion  
Jealousy and hate  
Woman needs man  
And man must have his mate  
On this you can deny

You must remember this  
A kiss is still a kiss  
A sigh is just a sigh  
The fundamental things apply  
As time goes by

_**Northern France, August 1918**_

Rose stared at herself in the tiny cracked mirror before her and sighed. It would have to do. The innocent beauty that had been admired by Philadelphia's society had faded somewhat. It was still present, no doubt about that. But you couldn't go through what she had been and not be affected. Running her hand over her face and pushing a stray curl behind her ear, she pushed herself from the sink and made her way to the infirmary.

She sighed as she surveyed the scene before her, so many young men, injured. Even more lost their lived so needlessly.

When America had joined what had been dubbed The Great War and her husband had been drafted she hadn't hesitated to sign up as a nurse, despite Andrew's reservations…she swallowed the lump forming in her throat and made her way to the nurse's desk.

"Hey Rose" Elizabeth greeted her handing her some charts "We've got some new admissions today" she said sighing.

"Did Doctor Johnson manage to save them all?"

Elizabeth nodded gathering her things and stepping out from behind the desk "All of them, it was a good day. Keep an eye on them during the night. Especially bed three, we haven't managed to get a name out of him yet"

Rose nodded and bid the older woman good night. She made her way along the beds, familiarising herself with their charts before she came across bed three. Inexplicably she felt the need to move closer, her heart beating faster. She frowned when she saw that his face was still covered in mud.

Filling a basin with hot water she gently began to wash his face and neck. As more of the dirt was washed from his face she began to get the feeling that she knew this man. She shook her head dismissing the thought. It couldn't possibly be. How many tall blond men must there be fighting in the War? Besides he had died. She had checked the lists and there hadn't been one mention of his names. She blinked back an onset of tears chastising herself for thinking of him. No good ever came from it, and she couldn't afford to fall apart now.

Clearing her throat she focused on the task at hand. God only knew how much the young man had suffered, the least he deserved was to be clean.

When she finally removed the dirt from his face, she took a step back on shaking legs and her hand flew to her mouth. Oh God, it couldn't be

There was no way.

Hesitantly she took a step forward. Her vision blurred by tears.

It was.

Oh my God.

Frantically she shook his shoulder, pleading with him to wake up. After what seemed like an eternity his eyelids opened and she found herself looking into a pair of familiar blue eyes. She let out a high-pitched shriek and fell to the floor as darkness engulfed her.

The first thing Jack was aware of was pain. Everywhere. And not the usual pain.

The next thing he was aware of was a woman shaking him awake. Painfully, with energy he didn't think he had he forced his eyes open.

His breath caught in his chest.

Rose…

Then she was gone.

**Thoughts?**


	2. Chapter 2

**Thanks for the feedback so far. Really means a lot.**

Rose woke gagging slightly as smelling salts were wafted under her nose. She groaned and opened her eyes.

"Oh my God Rose are you okay? You really scared us" her friend Linda exclaimed when she saw she was awake.

"Jack" she groaned, praying that it hadn't been a dream.

"Jack? Who's Jack?"

"I am" Jack murmured from behind her. Linda jumped and turned to face him frowning before turning back to Rose "Rose what's-

But before she could finish her question Rose had leapt out of bed and landed at Jack's side tears streaming down her face.

"I thought you were dead," she sobbed clutching his hand desperately.

Jack pulled her as close to him as he could and ran his fingers through her now blonde hair repeating her name over and over again.

Finally Rose managed to contain herself and she stared up at him with tear filled eyes. Smiling softly he reached up and brushed a few lingering tears from her cheeks.

"Rose, how did you survive? Your name wasn't on the list"

"Yes it was" she murmured softly "I told the officer my name was Dawson. I didn't want Cal and mother to find me" she bit her lip, afraid that he would be angry with her.

Jack couldn't believe it. She had taken his name; he cursed himself for not having thought of it.

"Oh God Rose I'm so sorry, I never even thought to check under steerage. I was unconscious till we reached New York and then Molly couldn't find your name on the list. I just assumed…"

Rose smiled sadly and pressed a finger against his lips, silencing him. "It's okay Jack"

Jack shook his head vehemently blinking back a threatening rush of tears " No its not okay, If I had taken the time to look myself. If I had only thought"

"No Jack, you can't focus on the If Only's trust me. I spent years doing that and it doesn't do you any good"

He sighed and pulled her to him again, wincing as she brushed against his wound, hoping she didn't notice.

She did and sat up immediately "Oh God did I hurt you? I'm so sorry" she lightly placed her hand on his chest over his bandaged wound. He smiled softly and brushed his hand over hers. "Does it hurt?"

He shook his head and kissed the tips of her fingers "Not anymore"

Rose shivered as she felt a pang of electricity through her at his touch. "What happened?"

Jack sighed weaving his fingers through hers "I don't really remember. I remember the battle starting but the next thing I remember is waking up here and seeing you. What are you doing here?" the question had been on his mind since he'd first laid eyes on her.

"I signed up to be a nurse when we entered the war and Andrew…" she bit her lip and turned away.

He frowned and put his thumb under her chin "Rose, what's the matter? Who's Andrew?"

Rose sniffed "He's my, was my husband" she replied her voice barely above a whisper as she glanced down at her wedding band.

"Oh Rose I'm so sorry what happened?"

"He was shot, they brought him here but his face was covered in mud and grime and by the time we realized who he was he… he was dead"

She dipped her head and inhaled deeply willing the images of her dead husband out of her head. She couldn't fall apart. Not here. Fortunately her society manners instilled so voraciously by her mother were still there despite her best efforts to quell them. She took a deep breath and raised her head to meet Jack's eyes again, all signs of distress gone.

She morphed so quickly that it stunned Jack. "What about you? What have you been doing?"

"Well uh, after we docked in New York I moved in with Molly and got a job in an art gallery and I uh…" he trailed off

Rose furrowed her eyebrows "What?"

"I adopted" he blurted, his heart pounding. How would she react? Would she want anything to do with him? It had never been an issue before as he had never even entertained the idea of being with another woman after Rose, partly the reason why he had decided to adopt in the first place. But this was _Rose_, the love of his life. Would this be a deal breaker? Did she even want children? More importantly, a child that wasn't even hers?

Rose stared at him in stunned silence that seemed to last an eternity, her mouth opened and closed several times but no sound came out.

Until finally she found her voice "You adopted?" only it wasn't her normal voice. More of a high-pitched squeak. She winced and repeated the question in a normal pitch this time.

Jack nodded. "In early 1913. Madeleine Rose" he smiled as he thought of his daughter Rose blushed as he said the name "after the sinking and I finally resigned myself to the fact that you were dead. I couldn't even think about being with another woman. Until one day I walked past this orphanage and I just stopped. To this day I don't even remember going in. But I found myself standing in the room where they kept all the babies and the nun walked me down past all the cribs. And that's when I saw her" he smiled, smiled a smile that could only belong to a devoted father. "She was awake and she stared up at me with this big, curious brown eyes and I was hooked. I knew I had to take her. Two days later the papers were signed and I took her home with me"

Rose smiled despite the tears streaming down her face "Oh Jack." She reached forward and grabbed is hand squeezing tightly "That's amazing" she smiled.

Jack nodded his eyes growing heavy. She stood up and gently kissed his forehead "Get some rest. I should get back to work" Too tired to protest Jack nodded and was asleep instantly, a serene smile on his face.


	3. Chapter 3

Late November 1918

Rose breathed a sigh of relief as she stepped onto dry land. Since Titanic sailing had never been one of her favourite activities. This voyage, much like the one to Europe when America had joined the war, had been spent consuming as much alcohol as possible.

She grabbed her single suitcase and made her way through the crowded New York pier, intent on finding a cab.

Jack's wound had never healed the way it should have and so the doctor had decided that he wouldn't be fit to return to the front line and sent home. That had been late September. It had been another two months before the war had finally ended.

It had been two months spent nursing the pain from the loss of her husband as well as missing Jack.

Jack was the love of her life, there was no doubt about it. But Andrew had still been her husband, she hadn't felt the same intensely overpowering love for him as she had Jack, that was the kind of love one only felt once in a lifetime if they were lucky, but she had cared for him. And to lose him so tragically…

She shook her head and focused her thoughts on finding transport. She was interrupted however, by a loud familiar voice calling her name.

Confused she turned in the direction of the voice and grinned when she recognised Molly Brown fighting her way through the crowd towards her.

Rose made her way over to the older woman and when they finally met found herself been pulled into a rib crushing hug. "Rose! It's so good to see you! I couldn't believe it when Jack told me. Where ya been girl?"

"I've been around" She glanced around expectantly "Where is Jack?"

The smile faded from Molly's "he's at home. Didn't he tell you he was sending me?"

"No. He never said a word" They had been exchanging letters since he had left Europe.

"Well he's at home in bed. He developed pneumonia not long after he got back to the states, its really hit him hard"

Luckily they had made it to Molly's car by then so Rose was able to reach her trembling hand out and use it to balance herself "Oh God" her breathing was becoming shallow and she felt the beginnings of a familiar panic building within her.

"Oh God, Oh God" she moved her hands up to her neck scratching wildly as she gasped desperately for breath

"Rose darlin' he's gonna be fine. The doctor says he's just taking a bit longer to recover is all." Molly's voice sounded like it was coming through a long tunnel

"No!" she gasped desperately "he can't die. I can't lose him Molly. Not again. Not after" she was sobbing now, her legs had long since given way and she lay collapsed on the ground gasping desperately for air. A few passers by stopped and stared at her but she didn't notice them.

Suddenly she felt Molly thrust a brown paper bag at her "breathe through this darlin. That's right deep breaths" she rubbed gently circles on her back and held the bag against Rose's mouth. It had been years since Rose had felt anything resembling motherly comfort and she leaned into Molly's touch gratefully as her breathing became less erratic.

"Are you alright darlin?" Molly asked her voice laced with concern. Rose reached up and brushed the tears from her cheeks and nodded

"I'm fine" she let out a nervous laugh "Sorry about that"

"Don't apologise darlin'. Come on lets go home I'm sure you're dying to see him."

"And kill him" Rose muttered under her breath, making Molly laugh.

Rose's eyes widened as Molly let them into her penthouse apartment, it had been years since she had been surrounded by such opulence as she explained to Molly when she questioned the look.

Molly directed her in the direction of Jack's room and she headed towards his room. Taking a deep breath she knocked on the door, wincing as she heard his violent cough, and let herself into the room.

"Jack Robert Dawson" Jack who had been attempting to draw, jumped up, thinking at first that it was Molly, his eyes widening in shock when he realised that it was in fact Rose standing in the doorway, arms folded across her chest looking both scary and adorable at the same time, if that was even possible.

"What were you thinking. We've been writing each other for how long and you never even felt compelled to mention your potentially life threatening illness?"

"It's not life threatening" he attempted, but he knew it was a feeble attempt, the look on his face only served to confirm it.

"I worked as a nurse on the front line Jack. Do you have any idea how many perfectly healthy men I've seen die because of pneumonia and all you can say to me is that its not life threatening" she was pacing the length of the room by now, her arms flailing wildly "I mean, what if you had died Jack? Then where would I be" she continued to pace the length of the room and suddenly for some inexplicable reason started yelling at him in French.

He watched her, momentarily stunned by her outburst. "Rose!" he yelled as loudly as he could manage in his weakened state before bursting into a coughing fit.

But it managed to catch her attention and she stopped pacing coming to halt at the end of his bed. "Rose, come here" he patted the edge of his bed when he had finally recovered. She bit her lip and he was struck by how vulnerable she looked, it was the same look Maddie got when she though there were monsters in her closet.

"What if I hurt you?"

Jack smiled a soft, reassuring smile "You won't"

Reluctantly she moved and perched on the edge of his bed as far away from his body as possible.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you. I wanted to I did. But you were in Europe and you've already got so much on your mind. I didn't want to worry you anymore. But I promise you I'm not dying Rose"

"Don't make promises you can't keep Jack"

"Okay. I'll do my best not to die. I've made it this far. I'm not about to die now if I can help it"

Rose tried to laugh but it came out as a strangled sob. Jack pulled her into his arms and rubbed gentle circles on her back as she sobbed. "Shhh it's okay. Everything's gonna be alright"

Lay they like that for a while before Rose finally managed to pull herself together. She sat up smoothed her hair and attempted to brush the tears off her cheeks "Sorry. God I'm sorry, you must think I'm a blubbering idiot. I even got your shirt wet" she let out a weak laugh.

Jack smiled and brushed a stray strand of hair from her face "I have a six year old, I'm used to tears. Are you okay?"

"I will be. I'm just… My heads a bit of a mess these days and" Jack pressed his fingers to her lips, effectively silencing her

"I know, and that's okay. But you know that I'm here for you if you ever need to talk."

"I know. Well, I should let you get some rest…" she was cut off however by a young girl, Madeleine, she assumed running into her father's room.

"Daddy, daddy guess what?" she exclaimed loudly, her voice full of excitement, she stopped short when she saw Rose

"Who are you?" she asked shortly folding her arms over her chest.

"Maddie, this is Rose" Jack said, a warning tone in his voice "My… uh friend" he glanced at her nervously, they hadn't gotten round to discussing terms for each other yet.

Maddie eyed Rose wearily making her feel mildly uncomfortable. Immediately she jumped up and excused herself "Rose you don't have to go…"

"No it's fine Jack, you two should spend some time together, I should go talk to Molly" with a chaste kiss on his forehead she left the room, vaguely aware of Maddie's eyes tracking her until the door clicked shut.

She stood leaning against the door for moment, breathing in and out "Get a hold of yourself woman" she told herself, giving herself a swift mental kick she made her way down the hall through the large apartment until she found Molly sitting at a large island in the middle of a large kitchen.

"There you are darlin'" she pushed a plate with a sandwich on it in her direction "figured you might be hungry"

Rose smiled gratefully and immediately began devouring the sandwich, she had been to nervous to eat much on the journey over.

"So darlin', tell me. What have you been doing with yourself all these years?"

"Well, uh I was working in some off- Broadway plays for about eighteen months, and one of the directors said that I had an 'incredible' talent and that his brothers directed moving pictures in California, I was getting restless in New York by that point, so I packed up and headed for the horizon" she smiled softly to herself.

Molly stared at her incredulously "How many have you done? I'm not one for the movies but you're names never been in the paper or any of the magazines"

"5 to date. Yes, I was still paranoid about my mother or Cal finding me so I changed my name to Lilly Andrews."

"Wow. You've certainly had quite the exciting life" Molly grinned.

Yes, Rose thought to herself, glancing in the direction of Jack's room. I made it count.


	4. Chapter 4

Rose sat at the large dining room table twiddling her thumbs nervously, she bit her tongue to keep from laughing as she could almost here her mother chastising her.

She shook the thought from her head and forced herself to focus on the task at hand. She was sitting at the large mahogany table in Molly Brown's dining room. Across from her, clutching a china doll, was Madeleine. Staring at her with curious, she'd even go so far as to describe them as suspicious, eyes

They'd been sitting like that for ten minutes at Molly's insistence that the pair get to know each other after an exhausted Jack had fallen back a sleep.

She still couldn't get her head around the notion that he had a _daughter_ an adopted daughter, but a daughter nonetheless. A daughter who completely relied on him, and was judging by the look on her face, a quintessential Daddy's girl who was not taking kindly to Rose's sudden intrusion.

"Who are you?" she finally asked, her eyes narrowed in a way that would have been rather funny if it hadn't been so terrifying. This was ridiculous. She had been raised by Ruth DeWitt Bukater for pete's sake, one of the most intimidating women in Philadelphia's society and she was letting herself be intimidated by a six year old?

"I'm Rose, a friend of your daddy's"

Maddie regarded her for several moments before nodding resolutely "Will you take me for ice cream?"

Rose blinked "Uh sure, if its okay with Molly?" she glanced at Molly, who'd been watching the exchange from the doorway, who nodded "Sounds like a good idea to me. Just make sure you wrap up warm, its cold outside"

"Okay!" she jumped down from the table and ran towards her bedroom, leaving a stunned Rose behind.

000

An hour later the pair were sat in an ice cream store sharing a sundae "Do you love my daddy?"

Rose paused the spoon half way to her mouth "Yes, I do. Very much."

Maddie nodded "Good. I do too. I really want him to get better"

"I'm sure he will sweetie" Rose smiled softly, desperately searching for a way to ease the tension her eyes roamed the room before they landed on the doll laying in the little girl's lap that she'd yet to see her go anywhere without

"That's a pretty doll. Does she have a name?"

Maddie nodded "Sarah. Daddy picked it, said it fit because I'm princess. He got it for me before he went to war and said that I was ever sad all I had to do was hug her and she'd get the message to him"

Rose couldn't help but smile that sounded like something Jack would say. "Well he's right, you are a princess"

Maddie blushed "Thank you, you're really pretty"

Now it was Rose's turn to blush and the two exchanged a smile before focusing on their ice creams again, neither sure what to say.

0000

Maddie burst into Molly's apartment practically bursting with excitement, although Rose feared it was from the sugar more than anything. At the same time Molly had come out of the kitchen carrying a tray of tea.

"Calm down child, what's got you so excited"

"Rose took me out for ice cream. Can I go see Daddy?"

Molly looked dubious "please Nana" she dragged the word please to twice its normal length and it seem to work for Molly soon relented.

"Be careful!" she called after her though she had already fled the room "Damn that child. Makes it impossible to say no"

Rose laughed as she hung her coat "She has you wrapped around her finger"

Molly rolled her eyes "and has done since the moment Jack brought her home. Just you wait she'll get you too"

Rose laughed again "is that for Jack?" she asked motioning towards the tray "Yes, could you give it to him for me? I'm running late"

Rose nodded and took the tray heading in the direction of Jack's room. Maddie was already there bouncing on her knees as she chatted excitedly

"Oh really? You and Rose went for ice cream?"

"Hu hu. I had a sundae it was really yummy!"

"I'll bet it was. So I'm guessing you didn't tell Rose about our sugar rule then?" Maddie shook her head "No, daddy"

"Didn't think so. And what is the sugar rule?"

"No sugar except on weekends 'cause it makes me hyper. Sorry daddy" she pressed a kiss to his cheek and ran out of the room.

"No running in the house!" Jack called after her, before breaking into a cough. Rose immediately went over to him and rubbed her hand soothingly over his back until the fit and fluffed his pillows before he lay back down.

"Sorry about the ice cream" she murmured sheepishly "she never said a thing"

Jack let out a laughing breath "don't worry about it. She's the master manipulator when she wants to be. I'll just let Molly try and put her to bed"

Now it was Rose's turn to laugh "Jack Dawson you are terrible. I'll put her to bed, its my fault"

"If you insist, but don't say I didn't warn you"

Rose rolled her eyes "how are you feeling?"

"Better" he reached over and squeezed her hand "Really"

"Good, that's good" she ducked her head avoiding his gaze "Hey, what is it?"

"Nothing it doesn't matter"

Jack sighed "It does matter Rose, you may not want to talk about it but it does matter"

"You have to get better Jack, you have to, I can't…."

"Hey, its okay" he had no idea where this was coming from, she'd seemed fine the past few days.

"No its not okay Jack. God nothing about this is okay. I mean think about it, we met, I abandoned my mother, you died, I met my husband, finally let myself be happy and then he died. I can't handle anymore Jack, if anything happens to you…"

She trailed off, her breath coming in short painful gasps as her hands moved up to her neck. Jack forced himself, with great difficulty, to sit up and grab her arm when she passed, making her stop short.

"Rose, I promise you, nothings going to happen to me" He tugged her arm, eventually coaxing her on to the bed. Her shoulders were still shaking with suppressed sobs as she struggled to hold herself together.

Gently, he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her shaking body to his, resting her head on his shoulder "Let it out" he whispered running his hands over her hair "just let it all out".

Finally she did. It flowed out of her like a burst dam, as she finally let go of months, _years_, of anguish that had been building up inside of her.

Eventually, neither of them knew how long, the sobs subsided and her breathing regulated somewhat but she made no move to get up.

Jack kissed her forehead tenderly and craned his neck so he could see her face "Feel better?"

Rose nodded and moved to sit up, attempting to brush the remnants of tears from her cheeks "Good" he reached up and brushed her cheek with his thumb. She looked like she wanted to say something but stopped when Maddie ran into the room now dressed in her pyjamas carrying her favourite blanket and doll.

She ran to the bed but stopped short when she saw Rose "Daddy, why is Rose crying"

Rose opened her mouth to deny it but Jack got their before her "She's just feeling a little sad sweetie, why don't you give her a hug to make her feel better"

Maddie nodded and jumped up on the bed, resting on her knees in front of Rose and threw her arms around her shoulders, squeezing with all her might. Rose sat stunned for a moment, looking at Jack who smiled encouragingly. Slowly she wrapped her arms around the girl's shoulders and returned the hug, inhaling deeply.

"Don't be sad Rose" Maddie whispered and Rose's heart melted in her chest "Oh sweetie I'm not sad , not anymore. Now c'mon lets get you into bed" she moved off the bed and pulled Maddie into her arms resting her on her hip "you're still in big trouble for not telling me about the ice cream young lady"


	5. Chapter 5

February 1919

Time passed rather uneventfully for the Dawsons over the next few months, something for which they were all immensely grateful for, particularly Rose who had had enough drama to last her a life time.

Jack recovered quickly and went back to his job at the art gallery after Christmas and Rose and Maddie were becoming extremely close, with Maddy preferring to spend time with Rose than the nanny.

They were currently walking through Central Park bundled up with more than enough layers on despite Maddy's protests, but Rose wasn't taking any chances between her experiences in the North Atlantic and living in California for several years she was not a fan of the cold…

"Rose?"

"Yes,sweetie?"

"Do you have a Mommy?" Rose stopped in her tracks and Maddie glanced down at her curiously from the wall she was walking along, she swallowed and continued walking, holding the little girl's hand to ensure she wouldn't fall.

"I do, but I haven't spoken to her in a long time" she hoped that that would be the end of the issue but she knew deep down that Maddie would never let it go at that

"Why not?"

"Let's just say we had very different ideas on what was important in life, we didn't get a long very well"

"How?"

Not for the first time Rose found herself wishing the child wasn't as inquisitive "Well, she thought that money was the most important thing in life-"

"But it is"

Rose sighed "Maddie come sit with me for a minute" she motioned to a nearby bench and the young girl sat down on the seat beside her swinging her legs back and forth staring up at her

"Maddie, sweetheart, you know money comes and goes but its not all you need in life to make you happy"

"Well, what does?" she seemed genuinely unsure "Having people in your life who you love and who love you. You can have all the money in the world but it doesn't mean anything if you're alone"

"Daddy always says that you have to make it count, I don't know what that means"

Rose smiled remembering the first time she had heard him utter the words "I know, but you will some day"

"When I'm a grown up?"

"Exactly"

Maddie sighed, seemingly pondering this "I don't have a mommy"

Rose was silent, she knew that Maddie didn't know she was adopted but she still wasn't sure what she was supposed to say.

"Daddy says she went to heaven with the angels and that she's watching over me"

"I'm sure she is sweetheart"

They were silent for a while after that, Maddie rested her head on Rose's shoulder a strand of her now blonde hair twisted around her finger, seemingly ignorant to the cold.

"Will you be my mommy?" she looked up at her with hopeful eyes and Rose could've sworn her heart stopped beating in her chest.

"Well, if you want…." Her voice was unusually high pitched but Maddie for her part didn't seem to notice and nodded eagerly.

"Yeah! You'd be a really great mommy and Daddy really loves you"

"Well okay then"

Maddie's face lit up "Oh yay! Now I have a mommy like everybody else" she threw her arms around Rose's neck and Rose's eyes stung with tears.

"Can we go and tell Daddy?"

Rose nodded blinking back the tears in her eyes.

0000

They walked through the snow covered streets towards the art gallery where Jack worked, Maddie babbling excitedly but Rose was still too stunned to process what she was actually saying.

They walked along Broadway towards the gallery but she stopped short when she saw a poster advertising the fact that there were auditions being held for a Shakespeare play in a nearby theatre.

"Mommy, I thought we were going to see Daddy" Maddie tugged on her hand impatiently.

"We are I just need to go in here for a second"

"Sit here okay?" she settled her in a seat in the back row and headed down the steps towards the stage and sat in a seat behind the directors.

"Next!" the director yelled impatiently as a hopeful star walked dejectedly from the stage. Looking around she saw that there was no one else but her left in the theatre. With a deep breath she walked up the steps onto the stage.

As soon as she walked on to the stage and was blinded by the spotlight she was immediately reminded of the thrill of theatre acting. The joy of watching the immediate reactions of the audience. She loved the working in the film industry but there was nothing quite like the feeling of excitement of acting live on stage.

"Name?"

She inhaled "Lilly Andrews, I'll be reading Juliet's soliloquy"- she'd had it memorised since she was a young girl.

Both the directors looked up impressed, obviously recognising her name from her days in California "Go ahead"

She took deep breath and reeled off the soliloquy from memory keeping her eyes focused on the balcony above her.

"The parts yours" the first director announced

"Really?"

"Really, rehearsals start Monday at nine"

Rose thanked them both and ran off the stage and up the steps towards Maddie was standing in the aisle jumping up and down excitedly

"Rose! You were so good!" she threw herself into her arms giggling "When I grow up I wanna be an actress just like you!"

Rose shook her head "You'll be much better than me" she kissed her cheeks "Now, c'mon lets go see your daddy"

000000

Jack was deliberating which paintings to hang where for the upcoming show when they arrived a little while later

"Daddy!" Maddie squealed excitedly throwing herself into his arms nearly knocking him

"Hey! Somebody's in a good mood"

Maddie giggled and nodded her head vigorously "Daddy, guess what?" she squealed again and Jack couldn't help but laugh at his daughter's enthusiasm "What, what?"

"Rose said she'd be my mommy!" she informed him excitedly. Jack looked from Maddie to Rose who had been holding back trying her best to remain inconspicuous

"She did?"

"Uh hu! And guess what else?"

"There's more?"

"Yep! I wanna be an actress just like mommy when I grow up!"

Oh wow, that's really cool sweetie!" he kissed her forehead and placed her back on the ground "Phil's in his office and I have it under good authority that he has a secret stash of candy…"

"Yay! Candy!" she ran off before he could say any more.

Jack sighed and turned to Rose who was nervously fiddling with her purse "So, mommy huh?" he asked smiling softly

"She asked I couldn't exactly tell her no" she stammered

"Hey" he grabbed her hand cupping her cheek "That's not what I meant, I think it's great, really great, she needs a mommy so thank you"

"She's a great kid" Rose smiled her eyes shone with tears "you've done a good job with her"

"Thank you" he pulled her into his arms and squeezed tight "an actress huh?"

Rose blushed "She saw me audition earlier and decided its what she wanted to be"

"You auditioned?"

She nodded "Shakespeare play on Broadway, The Winter's Tale, they gave me the lead role"

"Rose, that's great!" he picked her up and spun her around in circles "Jack!" she giggled, "I am so proud of you" he put her down and dipped her kissing her passionately

"Eww gross!"

Jack sighed and brought them back up to a standing position "You should get used to that"

Rose smiled and sighed contentedly feeling completely fulfilled for the first time in several years.

Review please! xxx 


End file.
